The present patent application claims the benefit of earlier Japanese Patent Application No. H11-253317 filed Sep. 7, 1999, the disclosure of which is entirely incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved print board connector that comprises a female-type connector housing attached to the rear face of a print board, into which a male connector is to be inserted from the top face of the print board in a reliable manner.
2. Description of the Related Art
Print board connectors of a type, in which a female connector and a print board are assembled into one unit, are known. In general, the female connector is attached to the rear face of the print board, and a male connector is inserted into the female connector from an opening formed in the print board. An example of such connectors is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-opened No. 62-17829. In this print board connector, terminal legs are taken out of a female-type connector housing. The end portions of the terminal legs are inserted into a line of through-holes formed in the print board, and soldered to the print board. Soldering the terminals to the print board allows electrical connection between the terminals and the print board, and at the same time, mechanical connection between the connector housing and the print board is guaranteed.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example of such prior art connectors. As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, multiple U-shaped terminals 2 are assembled into a female connector housing 1. Each terminal 2 has a terminal leg 2a extending out of the female connector housing 1. The end portions of the terminal legs 2a are inserted into through-holes 5 formed in a print board 4, and soldered to the print board 4 for the purposes of both electrical connection and mechanical connection between the connector body 6 and the print board 4.
The prior art connector has some problems. First, the connector housing 1 generally has a hood la made of a synthetic resin. The terminals 2 are assembled into the connector housing 1 so that one end of each terminal is accommodated in the hood, and the other end (i.e., the terminal leg 2a) is taken out of the hood, which extends toward an opening of the hood. Since the terminal legs 2a are soldered to the print board 4, the hood 1a is affected by heat during the soldering process, and is eventually deformed, as shown in FIG. 1C. The deformation prevents the male connector from being smoothly inserted into the connector housing 1.
Another problem is that the terminal legs 2a extending out of the connector housing 1 are easy to bend or offset from the proper positions. The positional displacement of the terminal legs 2a prevents the terminals from being smoothly inserted into the through-holes 5 of the print board 4. This drawback deteriorates the assembling efficiency, and consequently, the product yield is lowered.
The present invention was conceived to overcome these problems in the prior art. It is an object of the invention to provide a print board connector which is capable of avoiding undesirable deformation of the connector housing, and which allows the terminal legs to be inserted into the through-holes of the print board in a reliable manner.
In order to achieve the object, a print board connector of the present invention comprises a print board, a female-type connector housing attached to the rear face of the print board, and multiple terminals extending out of the connector housing toward the print board. The print board has an opening and a line of through-holes along the opening. The female-type connector housing includes a hood, which has an opening corresponding to the opening of the print board to receive a male connector, and a plurality of terminals extending out of the hood.
As a feature of the invention, a rib extends on an outer wall of the hood near the opening thereof, in order to hold the terminals that extend out of the connector housing. Because the rib holds the terminals outside the hood and near the opening, the end portions of the terminals are reliably guided into the associated through-holes of the print board.
The terminals are soldered to the print board at the through-holes to allow electrical connection. The rib extending on the outer face of the hood also functions as reinforcement, and effectively prevents deformation of the hood during a soldering process.
Preferably, the hood has a rectangular opening, and two longitudinal walls facing each other. Each terminal is U-shaped, one end being accommodated in the hood, and the other end extending out of the hood. The other end of each terminal further extends along one of the longitudinal walls of the hood toward the opening. Preferably, the rib is a flat strip projecting from the outer face of a longitudinal wall along the opening of the hood. The rib has a line of through-holes for receiving the terminals. Although the wall of the hood, along which the terminals extend toward the opening, is most likely to be subjected from heat during the soldering process, the flat strip extending along the longitudinal axis of the opening can effectively prevent deformation of the wall.
The terminals may be arranged in two lines. In this case, the ends of the terminals of one of the lines are guided out of the hood along one of the longitudinal walls of the hood, and the ends of the terminals of the other line are guided out of the hood along the opposite longitudinal wall.
A pair of ribs is provided to the two opposite longitudinal walls of the hood for purposes of holding the terminals extending out of the hood. The print board has a line of through-holes on either side of the opening. Either line of terminals supported by the rib is reliably guided into the through-holes of the print board.
In addition, two ribs provided to the opposite longitudinal walls of the hood can further enhance the reinforcement effect, and deformation of the hood is effectively prevented.
In another aspect of the invention, a connector body used in a print board is provided. The connector comprises a hood having an opening and two opposite longitudinal walls, a plurality of terminals extending out of the hood along one of the longitudinal walls, and a rib projecting from the outer face of said one of the opposite longitudinal walls and for holding the terminals.
Preferably, each terminal is U-shaped, one end being accommodated in the hood, and the other end extending out of the hood.
In still another aspect of the invention, a connector body used in a print board comprises a hood having an opening and two opposite longitudinal walls, and a plurality of terminals extending out of the hood along the two opposite longitudinal walls. A rib projects from the outer face of either longitudinal wall and holds the terminals near the opening of the hood.